He insisted that the terror label, however, should not be levied against entire factions or political adversaries.

The annual Arab summit comes amid heightened tensions over Qatar's opposition to last summer's ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and its perceived support for the latter's Muslim Brotherhood, which both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have designated a "terrorist" group.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recently withdrawn their ambassadors from Doha, citing Qatar's alleged failure to abide by a previous security agreement.

Many observers, however, have linked the diplomatic tension to political differences over the situation in Egypt.

The Gulf trio had been among the first to welcome last July's ouster of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, by the army.

Egypt's interim authorities, for their part, accuse Qatar of interfering in the country's affairs. Doha emphatically denies the allegation.